Consolidation of saturated soil by using axisymmetric BEM via particular integrals method

Based on the Biot’s consolidation theory and according to the particular integrals method, the axisymmetric BEM formulation is developed for analyzing the consolidation of saturated soil in the cylindrical coordinates. By approximating the pore pressure loading term in the Navier equation and the transient terms in the pore fluid flow equation with known global shape functions and fictitious density functions, the particular integrals for displacement and pore pressure can be easily derived. In order to obtain the corresponding axisymmetric BEM formulation for analyzing the consolidation of the saturated soil, the particular integrals are rewritten in cylindrical coordinates by integrating along the circumferential direction. Numerical results for axisymmetric problems of soil consolidation are given and compared with the known results to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the present formulation.